Life of Pi overtakes The Hobbit in box office while Gangster Squad opens strongly

Ang Lee’s Life of Pi moved to the number one spot on the Australian box office at the weekend above Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey.

An increase of the number of screens from 466 last weekend to 556 this weekend by distributor Fox helped Life Of Pi take $3.953m for a $7,109 per screen average, according to the Motion Picture Distributors Association of Australia. The film has now taken $14.751m since opening.

The Hobbit in its third weekend took $3.3m across 508 screens for a $6,503 average. The adaptation of the JRR Tolkien story now stands at $34.910m.

Meanwhile noir film Gangster Squad tool $2.271m in its opening weekend. The Roadshow-distributed film made a respectable $11,080 per screen average. The film is directed by Zombieland’s Ruben Fleischer.

ADVERTISEMENT

Also released over the weekend was biopic Hitchcock and animated feature Paranorman. Hitchcock, about the famous film director, made $1.245m for Fox across 220 screens for a $5,660 screen average while Paranorman made $938,000 across 360 screens for a $2,604 screen average.

Sharmill’s screening of the Met Opera’s Un Ballo In Maschera made $86,000 across 26 screens for a $3,306 average. Fox’s Matru Ki Bijlee Ka Mandola, an Indian film made $63,000 across 18 screens for a $3,512 screen average. Similarly Saadi Love Story, distributed by Eros Australia made $62,308 across 16 screens for $3,894 average.